The eyes of Texas were upon favorite son Jordan Spieth on Sunday at Colonial Country Club.
They were also on John Rahm and Steve Stricker and overnight leader Webb Simpson.
Then Kevin Kisner snuck in there and gave the right answers to a lot of questions.
“Everybody was questioning if I was ever going to win, then I won. Then everyone was questioning if I was ever going to win again,” said Kisner, who holed a clutch five-footer at the 72nd hole to capture his second PGA Tour victory at the Dean and Deluca.
He stood over that testy putt as Spieth stood on a chair nearby, stretching his neck to see over the crowd, hoping for a playoff. Kisner never flinched. He holed the putt, shot a final round 66 and posted the winning 10-under par score, a shot better than Spieth, Rahm and Sean O’Hair.
Kisner beat those guys because he made more back-nine birdies than they did. Not even Stricker’s closing 63 could catch him. Kisner put on an early back-nine surge starting with a 40-footer at the 10th. “It was a tough two-putt and it went in on the last turn. That kind of gets those juices flowing,” said Kisner, who got his first win last November at the RSM after four runnerup finishes in 2015.
Kisner had two more seconds this year before he broke through on a rainy Sunday in Fort Worth.
Spieth made a strong run over the final 18. He closed with a 65, second best round of the day to Stricker’s.
Kisner had a hiccup with bogey at the 16th that dropped him from 11-under back to 10.
Two nervous pars later and he was back in the winner’s circle and the happiest guy in town with the ugliest jacket.
